This campaign is very likely a crucial piece of some larger overall business strategy: set to run in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and W (advertising in big-name glossies is a first for the New York label), the ads feature an updated (and rather unfortunate-looking) logo. Also, the initial image (above) was teased to WWD, signaling an unambiguous play for press.

It seems like there's a lot riding on this campaign, but if the other images follow the one above, I don't think it can bear the weight. Any weight. Good thing scrutiny is weightless, or it couldn't even bear that.

Let's list all the elements that make up this lumpy soup of an ad:

The modernist blob of a collage on the left

The decontextualized graffiti on the walls in the main image

The very traditional waterscape seen through the window

Model Irina Nikolaeva's robotic pose (is that a pocket or is she rubbing her lower belly?) and faded, wilting expression